How to get eggplant not to taste like mattress foam.

          Up until this summer I had never been a huge eggplant fan.  I would eat it but it wasn't something that I intentionally went out and bought.  Perhaps because the stuff I did make always ended up tasting like a block of foam.  An herb roasted, balsamic vinegar drizzled block of foam.  The big purple stuff had pretty much been knocked out of my cooking repertoire.  Enter the Washington, GA Farmer’s Market. 

          A few weeks ago I asked around to different growers at the market what would be in season so I could plan the Weekday Gourmet menus around it.  (When you cook meals from vegetables picked fresh out of a garden you get a major head start in the taste department).  Sandy LeGette, of Lazy Willow Farm, replied, “Eggplant.  Lots of eggplant.”   Blast nabbit! 

         Since her eggplant was really pretty and looked like a thinner, more manageable piece of foam, I took the plunge and planned meals this fall that included eggplant. (Neither Reid nor I are the type to ever completely give up on a food anyway.   I didn’t eat fish until I was twenty-two but a salmon dinner was put before me and now I love it.  Reid hates raw tomatoes, but every year he tries to eat them just in case his taste buds have done a 180.)

Can you figure out which burger isn't Reid's?

        This is how I got serious about learning to cook eggplant.  Although the spicy paprika eggplant fries I thought were amazing, the following recipe is super simple.  (And a lot easier to clean up than a pan of oil). 

    Ingredients: (Serves 3-4)

    2 long Japanese eggplant

    Extra virgin olive oil

    Sea salt or kosher salt

    Lemon, cut in wedges

    Directions:

1.)    Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.)    Wash and slice the ends off each eggplant.  Split down the middle lengthwise. 

3.)    Score (cut little diamonds with a knife) the fleshy (white) side and sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

4.)    Drizzle the eggplant with olive oil.

5.)    Place with fleshy side down on the baking sheet.  Bake until tender (30-45 minutes). 

6.)    Serve with lemon wedge to squeeze over eggplant.

Upper left hand corner-super simple eggplant.

Does anyone else have a great eggplant recipe?  Or has also tried some of the heirloom varieties down at the market and noticed the difference?


There is definitely going to be some locally grown eggplant available at the market!  Saturday morning 9-12 behind the courthouse in Washington, GA!

The Joy of Squirrel

Future James Beard Winner  

        Even with all the cookbooks available and entire television networks that I am sure have covered every cuisine and dish imaginable, less and less people cook.  One would think with all the extra tutorials and resources available that more people would be cooking now, not less.  I think what may be happening, unfortunately, is that all this talk about gourmet food has driven people into two groups:  Fast Food Fallbacks and Fanatic Foodies.  The middle group, the home cooks who put a balanced dinner on their table every night, is disappearing.  Since I have always really loved and appreciated food, it is hard for me to completely understand the “Fast Food Fallback” mentality, BUT-I think I can relate:


        A couple of years ago my mom got me a subscription to “This Old House.”  Behind my cottage there was an “in-law” house and an unfinished basement.  Since I was bound and determined to live there forever with my dogs she thought I would be interested in learning about how to do renovations.  To a degree she was right.  I had slowly amassed some power tools, enjoyed painting and had built and recovered some furniture.  The magazine though, which is meant to inspire the DIY spirit in old home owners, only crushed mine.  What the heck is a lathe?   How do I go to Lowe’s with this magazine and find all 23 tools and 67 pieces of materials needed to properly repair the door to it's historic origins?  (And in my imagination drive 45 minutes back to Warm Springs only to find I had forgotten something).


I resigned myself to the rest of the issues to just flipping through and looking at the pictures, applauding the homeowners from my comfy,  non-Victorian period sofa.  I decided that when and if the time came to really renovate I would hire someone that already had all 23 tools and 67 pieces.

             In the same manner, I think some of the “foodie” movement has crushed a lot of would-be-cooks' spirits.  When I go into a bookstore and see the rows and rows of gorgeous cookbooks, I think "Well, it looks like this is pretty well covered already.  I guess the only subject left would be a tutorial on how to cook squirrels and other random animals your husband brings home."

A romantic squirrel dinner for two.

              The more we see of perfectly dressed women pulling out perfect meals to a perfectly set table; or see renowned chefs shouting orders so they can get a ten course meal on the table for 200 in an hour, the less attainable family dinner for four (or two) seems.  In the same manner, the “quick meal solutions” that are advertised are full of processed flour, sodium, preservatives and pretty low on flavor.  The result is a lot of eating out, a lot of fast food, and a lot of convenience items from the grocery store that add up to little nutritional value.

My hope through this blog is to help translate those “foods you should be eating” into "meals you are actually enjoying."  As a registered dietitian, I firmly believe that all of us can cook healthy meals for our families every single day without magically becoming kitchen experts first.  As more of a confessed “fanatic foodie” I believe all those meals can be incredibly delicious.  And as someone who is not a total stranger to the drive-thru, I can definitely understand those days when all you want to eat is anything you don’t have to cook. (Squirrel included)

Don't get crushed, I don't cook this much every night.  It was just a good vegetable picture.

What group do you lean toward more?  Do you get overwhelmed when you hear chefs talking about all the spices they are adding in a recipe or excited to go try it?   Are you one of those people I read about whose picture I look at that have actually restored one of the gorgeous Victorians or Antebellums here in Washington or elsewhere?


Tell me about it!  (It's a small town so if you don't talk about yourself somebody else will).  

Coming up:  The next couple posts will be centered around recipes based on locally grown produce that is going to be available at the market this Saturday, October 30th!  So far I’ve heard there will be kale, sweet potatoes, garlic, peppers, eggplant and Jerusalem artichokes (Don't worry-I've never had one of those last things either).  

Not From Washington

        Just over seven months ago, I married a country boy who lived in a town I had never heard of before meeting him.  At a bridal shower hosted by my future mother-in-law's good friends at the Washington Woman’s Club, I met several girls who introduced themselves as “NFW’s.”  This is how I learned that I too, was an NFW:  Not From Washington.

This is the summary of what all took place as soon as I said "I do", packed up my life and moved to the country:

• Job as a clinical dietitian with lots of great co-workers to being a housewife in the country
• Cute, historical cottage I had spent the last two years decorating to a bachelor pad with drop ceilings and faux wood paneling
• Close to my family to close to his family
• Friends within walking distance to "I know I've met them but what was their name again?" 
• Gym, tennis courts, and hiking trails on a gorgeous historic campus to an overgrown farm with a broken tractor, snakes and coyotes.
• "My dogs are like people"  to "Dogs belong outside"
• My own bathroom + guest bathroom + utility bathroom to “Oh my gosh I didn’t know men lived like this!” bathroom +creepy basement bathroom that I’m sure hasn’t been used in a decade
• Hosting eight course dinner parties to hosting a yard sale  

        This November will be six months since Reid agreed it could be fun for me to bake some things to take down to the Washington, GA Farmer’s Market. I think sensing my surprising loneliness (we were newlyweds, right?), Reid knew it was a good idea for me to “get out of the house."  I was sick of trying to unpack boxes and a little more than overwhelmed by everything I saw that needed to be done in my “new home.”  I felt myself becoming really, really homesick for my little cottage in Warm Springs where everything was how I wanted it- right down to the china closet and dormer room.  I missed how the sheriff would bring my dogs back if they wandered off and how the ladies at my favorite antique store would leave me a note on my door whenever they got some milk glass pieces in. I missed my neighbors stopping over every day to go on a walk or cook with me.  I missed my family history there, my community there, and my place there.

          Bolstered by Reid's support, I tried thinking of a little business name and ideas for what to bake.  I mentioned it to my so creative and oh so awesome older brother who immediately designed a logo for the extra labels I had leftover from my wedding. Then my, "all the marketing you would ever need in Washington, GA" mother-in-law e-mailed half the town that I would be at the market.   Reid stayed up late with me, keeping the dishes washed and wrapping all the treats late into the night. We loaded up the car early in the morning and I headed off to town to sell scones, pound cakes, brownies, cookies and yeast rolls from a folding table.  I had never actually sold anything I had made in my life and was so nervous.  I was only comforted by the fact that if I didn't sell a thing then at least I would have plenty of simple carbohydrates for the emotional eating that would follow while I searched for another clinical job.  

         Instead, I came home from the market that first Saturday exhilarated.  I got out of the car and was literally jumping up and down, hugging Reid, saying "Oh my gosh!  Honey, people actually bought stuff!!"  

      

         That very first Saturday I had gotten to do things I loved all morning long-meeting other vendors, talking to market customers about ingredients, and enjoying the feeling of accomplishment you get when you work hard.  Over food, I found that sense of community and place in Washington I had missed so much about my life in Warm Springs. The market has since continued to provide that connection that sharing a good meal together always brings.  

         Since then, “Southern Scratch” has become one of the most fun and challenging endeavors either of us have ever undertaken.  We are learning to work together in everything from our farm to our family as friends, spouses & business partners. I pray every Friday night not to "snap" when I'm trying to get everything on my order & bake list filled.  Slowly but surely I'm making the bachelor dream home into a comfortable farmhouse so we can welcome friends and family.  We look around at all there is to do on the farm and are overwhelmed (this time in a good way!) by how much God has blessed us by giving us so much work to do.

        And while Reid may have grown up here in Wilkes County and I will always be “Not From Washington,” I couldn’t imagine a better town to live in when you’re starting from scratch!